“It’s the cool factor,” said Dakota Rivers, 14, of Carlsbad. “People are like, ‘Why do you wear a helmet? It’s unacceptable.’ ”

He had just espoused what seems to be the universal creed among skateboarders — a creed that has created problems in skateparks around the county.

San Marcos has been so frustrated with skateboarders who refuse to wear their helmets that it has closed the new Hollandia Skate Park five times in the past six months.

Each closing lasted one week, and the city promises to continue the closures until everyone obeys safety laws.

But, apparently, the skateboarding culture doesn’t change easily.

Skateboarders at Hollandia are known to talk back at the park’s caretaker and rangers when they are told to wear helmets. They’re also known to quickly put them on when they see sheriff’s deputies arrive, and take them off when they leave.

San Marcos’ community services director, Craig Sargent-Beach, is not discouraged.

He said he hopes that continued closings will enlighten violators’ consciences about depriving others of skating, and that the law-abiding skaters will pressure their peers to comply with the rules.

Sargent-Beach also is studying other cities to see how they control the helmet issue.

In San Diego, for instance, skateboarders are just as prone to breaking the helmet law. San Diego does not supervise its skate parks, and leaves enforcement of safety laws to the police, although, in the case of Carmel Valley, they do not seem too strict in the eyes of skateboarders.

San Diego police spokesman Gary Hassen said police are not ignoring the skate park.

“If officers get a call for service there, they will go. Otherwise, they’re out there doing other things,” he said.

Carlsbad also leaves safety enforcement to its police, who give out tickets, said Lynn Diamond, the Police Department’s spokeswoman. The skate park shares a parking lot with the Police Department.

“Almost all of them wear helmets now. We enforced the law, and it increased compliance,” Diamond said.

In San Marcos, deputies will not increase patrolling at the skate park, Capt. Don Crist, ﻿said, but will continue to respond to complaints of violations from the park’s caretaker and rangers, and issue tickets when necessary.

Sheriff’s deputies wrote 23 citations in an area that includes the skate park last year. Four of them were skate park safety violations.